Some records are made despite everything working against them. Samuel Smith's The Art of Letting Go, released via Compass Records, is one of them. Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2020 at age 44, the London-based singer-songwriter has spent the past five years finding ways to keep writing as the condition slowly took away his ability to play guitar. The result is a Nashville-recorded album, produced by two-time Grammy-winner Matt Rollings and featuring some of the most celebrated names in American roots music, all held together by the kind of hard-won clarity that only comes from facing something you can't outrun.The album was recorded with a constellation of musicians, including dobro master and 16-time GRAMMY winner Jerry Douglas, GRAMMY-winning banjo pioneer Alison Brown, fiddler Stuart Duncan, and guitarist Bryan Sutton. Vocal trio Tiny Habits, singers Jonatha Brooke and Glen Phillips, and jazz guitarist Julian Lage also feature.